Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution

1051 Words5 Pages
Narrator: “Never forget the class struggle!” Called by Mao Zedong, the Chairman of the Communist Party of China, the cultural revolution was a series of sociopolitical movement within the People’s Republic of China during the 60's and the 70's. Mao Zedong purged remnants aspects of capitalist and traditional elements from Chinese society to preserve 'pure' Communist ideology and the re-imposing of Maoist Communism thought as the dominant ideology within the Country. We are going to have a peek into the history of those days through my mother's vision. (Plays a clip of the cultural revolution) Wei Li: I was born in 1967, in Southern China, Guang Zhou, a major city next to Hongkong. It was the later stages of the revolution that I experienced.…show more content…
She became the target of her co-workers and the red guards. “Too Capitalist,” they said. At the time political movement within society was extremely violent. The red guards claim to follow Mao’s orders to purge the old tradition and the capitalist spies, they then would use these claims to take power within cities and villages. Wei Li: My mother told me that when I was a baby, there were two different sides red guards occupying the building across the street. The two wings of the building were set up as bases for the red guard groups. Both sides would dig up the opposition's wrongdoings and often have idealogic fighting physically or verbally. (Plays a clip of the red guard) Wei Li: One night, the left wing red guards set fire to the opposition’s…show more content…
China's youth responded to Mao's appeal by forming Red Guard groups and started the Great Parade around the country. The Red Guard hitchhiked on trains and carriages to every corner of the nation to execute Mao's orders. (Clip of Cultural Revolution) Narrator: In the violent struggles that fired across the country, the movement spread like a wildfire. Millions of Chinese were persecuted due to being suspected of affiliating with Capitalist elements. The Red guard applied terror tactics such as public humiliation, arbitrary imprisonment, torture, hard labour, continued harassment, raid of property and sometimes unjust execution. During the Down to the Countryside Movement, a significant amount of the population was moved and resettled, the transfer of urban educated to rural areas. Wei Li: I remember students had to write denouncing articles on Liu Shao Qi, who was the President of the People's Republic of China.

More about Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution

Open Document